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1st ED Itinerary - BMW 335i M sport Estoril Blue

14K views 49 replies 14 participants last post by  mjadala 
#1 · (Edited)
A big thank you to fellow festers for the wealth of information here. I placed an order for a 2013 335i Sedan M sport 6MT, Dynamic handling pack for pick up on Aug 31st.

Put together this initial draft plan, revising it everyday. We are looking to drive a lot and experience the car, while enjoying the sights along the way. Wanted a mix of mountain driving, and driving along the the riviera. Also wanted to include F1 spots like imola, monaco, monza. Any comments are appreciated.

Day 1 8/30 Get on a plane
Day 2 8/31 Pick up car at Welt; BMW museum
Day 3 9/1 Munich Local sight seeing
Day 4 9/2 Drive to Grossglockner, Bolzano via Pordoi pass
Day 5 9/3 Drive to Venice sightseeing
Day 6 9/4 Imola, Maranello
Day 7 9/5 Florence, Pisa
Day 8 9/6 Monaco
Day 9 9/7 Drive to Milan; Milan Sight seeing
Day 10 9/8 Monza F1 Race Qualifying, Drive to Davos or Bormio
Day 11 9/9 Drive to Munich; Stelvio Pass
Day 12 9/10 Drop off car at Munich Airport and get on the plane.


Is Day 4 doable or is it slower than what google maps tell me?

Anyone care to share their experience being to maranello and imola? Do they let you in the factory or is a waste of time. how much time did it take?

Thanks in advance!

Ok, here is the revised version as posted on post #27

8/30/2012 Plane Drive to Stl; 11:25 AM Flight out of Stl
8/31/2012 Munich Land in Munich 10:05 AM; 11:30 BMW Factory English tour; 2:20 PM check in time; Pick up car at Welt; BMW museum; Vignettes from ADAC
9/1/2012 Munich Munich Local sight seeing, Dachau, Marienplatz
9/2/2012 Cortina d Ampezzo Drive to Grossglockner; Dolomites, Cortina d Ampezzo
9/3/2012 Venice Drive to Venice sightseeing
9/4/2012 Florence Maranello, Ferrari and Lamborghini factories, Drive to Florence (Imola? maybe)
9/5/2012 Florence Florence sightseeing: Uffizi Galeria, Galeria Academia, Giotto***8217;s Campanile, Brunelleschi***8217;s dome, Basilica di Santa Croce, Ponte Vecchio, Pitti Palace, Medicee Cappelle(Don***8217;t plan on seeing them all, but put a list together)
9/6/2012 Florence Florence, Drive to Sienna via 222, Sienna sightseeing, san Gimignano, and back to Florence
9/7/2012 Monza Drive from Florence to Monza via Pisa (& Cinque Terre maybe)
9/8/2012 Bormio Drive from Monza to Bormio via Como & San Bernardino pass
9/9/2012 Munich Drive to Munich via Stelvio Pass
9/10/2012 Home Drop off car at Munich Airport and Travel back to Stl; Take off 3:55 PM; Land at 11 PM
 
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#2 ·
For my taste, that is an overload of places, cities and driving. I am sure, you would be exhausted on day one, when you pick up your car fresh out of the plane. Why don't you reduce your itinerary by 30% (or extend your stay by that much), and then you would reasonably enjoy your trip. For example driving from Monaco to Turin takes +-3 hours (no food stops in between). I do not know your circumstances, but all I see here is that you try to cram as much stuff as possible into just a few days. There is one item missing from your list though: time to enjoy the car and the surroundings. And that's most important in ED.
 
#3 ·
A few recommendations:

If you leave the USA on 8/30, you'll arrive MUC on 8/31 in the morning. I'm not sure how old you are :rofl:, but this could be challenging. I picked up the same day as my arrival back in 2008 (when I was 27), but admittedly that was after flying in Lufthansa First Class, with a visit to the First Class Lounge in Munich for a rain shower, hearty breakfast, and several Red Bulls.

You do seem to be doing a lot of back-tracking in Italy.

I do agree with the above poster that it's a lot, although what I would say is if you want to see all of these places, maybe find a central location and use it as a base (so you're not checking in and out of hotels every day).

With your current itinerary, you're going to travel through all of these great cities, but not really see them.
 
#4 ·
Good thoughts guys and I really appreciate the input. I am working on cutting back things to do as we speak. The places I really want to see (can't miss) are Stelvio, Milan, Venice, Maranello and Monaco. I started a map with these. Rest of the places are things that seemed like they could be on the way between these places. So, I might just drive through them if time is an issue. For example I am not big on seeing Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Turin , but Bologna happens to be on the way to Maranello from Venice, and Florence, Genoa is on the way to Monaco you get the idea. This is our first European trip, but have done several long distance flights to Asia.

Any thoughts on the drive from Munich to Bolzano via Grassglockner?
 
#5 ·
That is quite a list of sites. We stopped by Maranello a few years back and were told you could not get into the factory unless you were a customer. But there is the Ferrari museum which is great. They have a large projection screen with some seating and we were there on sunday of an F1 race. The place actually had quite a few people just hanging out and watching the race. Lots of cars, engines, pictures, F1 stuff, etc.

A museum is nice but an arguably better use of time, even if you're a Ferrari fan, is to skip Maranello and go down the street to the Lamborghini factory - make sure to arrange a tour ahead of time. We did this via email. It was excellent. They let you walk the floor, talk with the people building the cars and even serve you cappuccino. You can even hear them test driving the new bulls around town. They have a small museum as well but it pales in comparison to the Ferrari one.
 

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#6 ·
To make it clear, I removed some places where I am not spending much time, but will be just driving through.
 
#9 · (Edited)
A big thank you to fellow festers for the wealth of information here. I placed an order for a 2013 335i Sedan M sport 6MT, Dynamic handling pack for pick up on Aug 31st.

Put together this initial draft plan, revising it everyday. We are looking to drive a lot and experience the car, while enjoying the sights along the way. Wanted a mix of mountain driving, and driving along the the riviera. Also wanted to include F1 spots like imola, monaco, monza. Any comments are appreciated.

Day 1 8/30 Get on a plane
Day 2 8/31 Pick up car at Welt; BMW museum
Day 3 9/1 Munich Local sight seeing
Day 4 9/2 Drive to Grossglockner, Bolzano via Pordoi pass
Day 5 9/3 Drive to Venice sightseeing
Day 6 9/4 Imola, Maranello
Day 7 9/5 Florence, Pisa
Day 8 9/6 Monaco
Day 9 9/7 Drive to Milan; Milan Sight seeing
Day 10 9/8 Monza F1 Race Qualifying, Drive to Davos or Bormio
Day 11 9/9 Drive to Munich; Stelvio Pass
Day 12 9/10 Drop off car at Munich Airport and get on the plane.

Is Day 4 doable or is it slower than what google maps tell me?

Anyone care to share their experience being to maranello and imola? Do they let you in the factory or is a waste of time. how much time did it take?

Thanks in advance!
Florence, Pisa --> Pisa is THE Biggest tourist trap in Italy - plan spend no more than 1 hr there. For Florence 1 day is nothing - but if you decided go anyway - I strongly recommended to buy tickets to Ufficy Gallery museum on-line. Then you don't need to stay in 3hrs+ line. If you can - substitute Pisa for Siena - I will skip Pisa for Siena any day.
Walks Inside Florence's three-hour introductory tour costs ***8364;50 per person
Recommended place to eat in Florence.
Florence had one of the best gelaterias in Italy.

The pricey Firenze Card (***8364;50/person), rolled out last year, has proven to be an expensive but worthwhile option for busy sightseers who plan to see the Uffizi, Accademia, and several other covered sights (Pitti Palace, Brancacci Chapel, Medici Chapels, and many more). If all you want to see is the Uffizi and/or the Accademia, however, getting advance reservations for these sights remains the less-expensive option (your hotelier can help, generally for a small fee).
Devoted David-ites seeking to score last-minute tickets to the Accademia can try dropping by the My Accademia Libreria reservation office, just across the street from the museum's exit, which sells same-day reservations (when available, of course; extra fee; they also sell reservations for other times). Upstairs at the Accademia, a new exhibit displays Florentine altarpieces from 1370-1430--the last gasp of the Middle Ages, just before Renaissance fever hit in full force.
 

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#37 · (Edited)
Florence, Pisa --> Pisa is THE Biggest tourist trap in Italy - plan spend no more than 1 hr there. For Florence 1 day is nothing - but if you decided go anyway - I strongly recommended to buy tickets to Ufficy Gallery museum on-line. Then you don't need to stay in 3hrs+ line. If you can - substitute Pisa for Siena - I will skip Pisa for Siena any day.
Walks Inside Florence's three-hour introductory tour costs ***8364;50 per person
Florence had one of the best gelaterias in Italy.

We spent two nights in Florence during our ED and it was not enough days. It was my wife's favorite stop on the trip. We're going to book a flight here and stay for a week without a car.

We booked the morning and afternoon tours so that we could see Florence and the Academia in the morning and then the Uffizy Gallery and the David in the afternoon. We also stopped in Lucca for an ATM withdrawal and it looked like a nice place to stay for a night as well. On our car-less trip, we'll probably do a day tour to Sienna with Florence being our home base along with some Tuscan wine touring.

My wife loves Chocolate and ordered a scoop of Chocolate and a scoop of Almond. Next time, she would get two scoops of Almond instead. Ask for a taste if your not sure first.
 
#10 ·
Thanks for input guys!

Was leaning towards skipping milan myself. The only think I care about in Milan is the Monza F1 race and a drive by San Siro.

Thanks for the tips on Florence...
 
#12 ·
Wow, just realized you and I are picking up a 335i M Sport 6MT Estoril Blue on the same day! That is fantastic! (Mine has the coral interior though, so it won't be too similar :)) Either I see you there or not, but congrats! I'll have my own itinerary up soon enough.
 
#16 ·
Mind updating your itinerary on your thread?

People have given you some good advice (Dandanio especially). I'd like to see the adjustment before I throw my 2 cents in.
 
#20 ·
Mind updating your itinerary on your thread?

People have given you some good advice (Dandanio especially). I'd like to see the adjustment before I throw my 2 cents in.
Wow! you have high standards! Don't you? :rofl:<end sarcasm>
 
#19 ·
It was quite a haul to the Grossglocker from Bolzano, but 2.5 to the Grossglockner sounds about right. We ate lunch at the first restaurant you came to once you paid the toll. I think we left Bolzano around 9:30am, and we probably were eating lunch around 12:30 or so? We did go up to the top for a quick photo shoot, but then turned back around and proceeded to enjoy the rest of the Grossglockner.

This was our route:

https://www.google.com/maps?saddr=R...D5RFIreQ&mra=dpe&mrsp=2&sz=10&via=1,2&t=m&z=8
 
#26 ·
I did some research based on what you guys suggested here. I am dropping Monaco and time in Milan for additional time in Florence and Sienna. I have to admit I did not know anything about Florence, and I love what I am reading about it. Thinking of Florence as a base for 3 nights. We probably have a full day there - Accademia, Uffizzi, duomo; and a day trip to Sienna on SR222 through the Chianti.

As far as Venice goes, we just want to get in, park the car, take the Water taxi to Venice, stroll around St. Mark's square, basilica, do the gondola. Anything else is a bonus. So, we don't want to spend more than a day there.

Thanks for helping me "find" Florence. I can now see why there are passionate recommendations about Florence.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Ok, its getting closer, here is my latest version of my itinerary. Need to finalize it soon, as I like to book my hotels in advance. Thanks for the input you all, as always!!:thumbup:

8/30/2012 Plane Drive to Stl; 11:25 AM Flight out of Stl
8/31/2012 Munich Land in Munich 10:05 AM; 11:30 BMW Factory English tour; 2:20 PM check in time; Pick up car at Welt; BMW museum; Vignettes from ADAC
9/1/2012 Munich Munich Local sight seeing, Dachau, Marienplatz
9/2/2012 Cortina d Ampezzo Drive to Grossglockner; Dolomites, Cortina d Ampezzo
9/3/2012 Venice Drive to Venice sightseeing
9/4/2012 Florence Maranello, Ferrari and Lamborghini factories, Drive to Florence (Imola? maybe)
9/5/2012 Florence Florence sightseeing: Uffizi Galeria, Galeria Academia, Giotto***8217;s Campanile, Brunelleschi***8217;s dome, Basilica di Santa Croce, Ponte Vecchio, Pitti Palace, Medicee Cappelle(Don***8217;t plan on seeing them all, but put a list together)
9/6/2012 Florence Florence, Drive to Sienna via 222, Sienna sightseeing, san Gimignano, and back to Florence
9/7/2012 Monza Drive from Florence to Monza via Pisa (& Cinque Terre maybe)
9/8/2012 Bormio Drive from Monza to Bormio via Como & San Bernardino pass
9/9/2012 Munich Drive to Munich via Stelvio Pass
9/10/2012 Home Drop off car at Munich Airport and Travel back to Stl; Take off 3:55 PM; Land at 11 PM
 
#30 ·
12 hr compliance posting pics. Picked up the car last evening. The whole welt experience is top shelf. Getting used to the car an Munich city traffic took some time. Slammed the brakes pretty hard couple of times, I could smell them when I got to the hotel. The weather is not great now- rainy the whole time, adds to the driving challenge. Met Johnofcross at welt. His delivery was 10 mins after mine. Enjoy the pics. Heading to Grossglockner tomorrow..,
 

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#34 ·
Thanks for the compliments!!

More pics from today..Driving the Deutsche Alpenstrasse & Grossglockner was lot of fun. So, was the drive thru the Dolomites, where we are now. Headed to Venice bright & early tomorrow!!
 

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#35 ·
My car is enroute

Just found out that my car is on the Topeka which has set sail from Bremerhaven. Expected to dock in NY on 10/3.:)
 
#36 ·
Car is on TOPEKA, went to Gothenburg, Sweden and is currently docked in Zeebrugge, Belgium...:)
 
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